The United Nations Children’s Fund. Pakistan Floods. Early Recovery Framework – OCHA Pakistan, 2012. PDF file.

Posted: August 13th, 2013

The United Nations Children’s Fund. Pakistan Floods. Early Recovery Framework – OCHA Pakistan, 2012. PDF file.

 

 

2.2 Response to date

2.2.1 Government of Pakistan response

The Government, under the leadership of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and

enlisting the logistical capacity of the Armed Forces, spearheaded the initial response to the disaster

with the deployment of rescue and relief operations. District-level authorities supported by the

Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) of Sindh and Balochistan and NDMA initiated

an immediate response in the first days of the floods.

The Government initial response included search and rescue activities for people trapped by the

floods, and relocation of populations living in vulnerable areas where possible. Utilizing the

preparations made through the contingency planning process, locations for hosting people who had to

leave their homes had been identified, search and rescue capacities reinforced and humanitarian

communication systems devised. Mechanisms developed during the contingency planning process

were activated to alert the population of potential flooding and thus enable them to move to temporary

settlements in advance of the floods.

During the floods and in their immediate aftermath, the Governmentof Pakistan response, through

both the NDMA and PDMA, focused on life-saving activities, providing shelter, food and non-food

items (NFIs) and addressing hygiene and sanitation constraints for the affected communities.

As of 12 December 2011, the NDMA has provided an estimated 125,000 emergency shelters (tents

and shelter kits), over 2.42 million food rations, more than 9.5 million water purification tabs and 1

million hygiene and sanitation tablets. Other items distributed include blankets, mosquito nets, water

purification units and plastic sheets. The NDMA also established 33 health camps and 22 field mobile

health units that treated more than 1.53 million patients. Mosquito fumigation was also carried out in

affected areas.

 

2.2.2 Humanitarian community response

On 8 September, the Government of Pakistan requested the United Nations for international

assistance to respond to the emergency caused by floods in Sindh and Balochistan. In response to

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the request, the humanitarian community developed a Rapid Response Plan based on the joint rapid

needs assessment undertaken on 11 and 12 September. The plan complemented the Government’s

provision of relief to affected populations and was launched on 18 September 2011.

Through the Cluster approach, UN organizations and NGOs have been providing life-saving

emergency assistance to flood-affected communities. Accordingly, the following clusters were

activated: Food Security, Health, Shelter/NFI, WASH, and Logistics. Other sectors, Education,

Protection, Nutrition and Early Recovery were integrated as part of life-saving interventions into the

existing clusters.

 

 

Kronstadt, K. Alan, Pervaze A. Sheikh, and Bruce Vaughn. Flooding in Pakistan: Overview and Issues for Congress, 2010. Print. PDF file.

 

 

Implications of Flooding on Selected Sectors

of Pakistan

The floods are expected to have a long-term negative effect on the development prospects for

Pakistan. There is considerable damage to infrastructure and agriculture, among other sectors.

The United Nations, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank are conducting a needs

assessment for Pakistan. Initial reports state that the need for recovery and reconstruction could

reach $9.7 billion. This section discusses some potential implications of the flooding on selected

sectors in Pakistan including energy and infrastructure, the economy, and security.

Implications on Energy and Infrastructure

Rebuilding challenges include reconstruction of destroyed or damaged housing and infrastructure,

including electrical generation and distribution, roads, bridges, rail lines, levees, dams/barrages,

and irrigation works. Damage estimates include more than 5,000 miles of primary and secondary

roads, 400 bridges, 400 miles of railways, 11,000 schools, and 200 health facilities, with damage

being particularly severe in northern regions like the Swat Valley.35 The difficulty, time, and

expense of rebuilding this lost infrastructure is likely to be substantial. For example, the World

Bank and Asian Development Bank jointly estimate that the floods caused $9.7 billion of

damages.36 That figure includes damage across several sectors, including loss of physical

infrastructure and other economic losses. The full study has not yet been released, but researchers

have commented that agriculture and roads were particularly hard hit.37 Two U.S. university

researchers using primarily data on the flood characteristics and pre-flood economic data

estimated damages between $5.1 billion and $7.1 billion to building and transportation

infrastructure and $2.12 billion in losses from the disruption of trade.38

 

Implications for Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the primary mainstays of Pakistan’s economy. It accounts for approximately

23% of GDP, employs about 43% of the labor force and provides about 60% of the country’s

export earnings.47 Arable crops, livestock, and fishing and forestry represent 65%, 31%, and 4%

of Pakistan’s agricultural GDP, respectively. Pakistan typically has two major growing seasons,

Rabi (winter crop, spring harvest) and Kharif (summer crop, fall harvest).48 The Kharif crop is

also called the summer or monsoon crop because it is grown during the time of the southwest

monsoons, which typically occur from July to October. During the Kharif season, agricultural

activities take place in rain-fed and irrigated areas.

 

 

Department for International Development. Pakistan floods newsletter 3-gov.uk, 2010. PDF file.

 

‘THE WORST COULD BE YET TO COME BUT WE WILL STAND BY

PAKISTAN’ UK MINISTERS SEE FLOOD DEVASTATION

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Secretary of State for International

Development Andrew Mitchell and Minister Without Portfolio Baroness Warsi

have all recently travelled to Pakistan to see the effects of the devastation. DFID

has been leading the UK Government’s response to the worst Monsoon floods

in the history of Pakistan.

Speaking from Sukkur,

South Pakistan, the

region now worst

affected by the monsoon

floods. Nick Clegg

Deputy Prime Minister

said:

“It’s now one month since the

monsoon floods started, and

the disaster in Pakistan is

getting worse.

“The coming days and weeks

are critical; millions of people

in Punjab and Sindh in the

south of Pakistan have lost

their homes and are facing

hunger and illness unless they

get vital help right now.

“That’s why the UK will push

out more emergency aid over

the coming days in what is

now the worst affected area of

Pakistan, including safe

drinking water, toilets,

emergency shelter, water

pumps, and other lifesaving

items.”

Targeted aid in Punjab

and Sindh includes:

 2,330 water pumps/points

to provide safe drinking

water for hundreds of

thousands of people;

 1,150 private bathing

facilities, benefiting

thousands of people

particularly women;

 Emergency shelter kits for

around 30,500 families –

provide shelter for more

than 152,000 people;

 Hygiene kits for about

75,000 families

 

Chughtai, Shaheen and Cate Heinrich. Pakistan Floods Emergency: Lessons from a continuing crisis, 2012 .PDF file.

 

 

KEY STRATEGIC PRIORITIES OF THE EARLY RECOVERY FRAMEWORK

• Improved access to an essential package of public health services for the affected and

returning population with a reasonable degree of contact (above 0.5 New

Cases/person/year) between the population in the catchment area and the public health

delivery system in each of the priority districts;

• Conduct Mother and Child Week (MCW) to deliver a package of health information and

services to household. Conduct measles campaign to vaccinate 6 months to 13 years

children against measles, Provide Vitamin A supplementation to children 6-59 months

along with measles campaigns or polio campaigns;

• Provide cold chain equipment, assist operational cost of vaccine logistics to ensure

availability of safe vaccine to children;

• Essential health system service delivery to the affected population will be through still

functional health facilities, and community based health care providers of the Government

and civil society organisations, organisation and development of mobile medical teams

and ensuring effective referral support through outsourcing the provision of health care to

international and national non-governmental organizations that are currently engaged in

providing health services in the flood affected districts via the Cluster Coordination

Mechanism. Build capacity of civil society and authorities in exposed areas to respond to

health and nutrition needs in emergencies;

• Prevention, control and provision of a public health response to communicable disease

outbreaks – priority health interventions need to be directed towards diseases that are

endemic and particularly those which can potentially cause excess numbers of mortality

and morbidity within a short span of time. A crucial initial step for a public health

emergency and early recovery response is to establish adequate disease surveillance

systems that take into account the inherent disruption of the public health infrastructure of

the affected country and to ensure that affected population have access to information

about prevention of key killer diseases;

• Intuitional capacity building for the provision of specialized health services and medical

care for person with disabilities and older persons by training staff on appropriate

responses, by providing appropriate drugs, by referring individuals to rehabilitation

services and by providing specific equipment.

Conclusion

The floods are expected to have a long-term negative effect on the development prospects for

Pakistan. There is considerable damage to infrastructure and agriculture, among other sectors. Under the leadership of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and

enlisting the logistical capacity of the Armed Forces, the country responded to the disaster. During the floods and in their immediate aftermath, the Governmentof Pakistan response, through

both the NDMA and PDMA, focused on life-saving activities, providing shelter, food and non-food

items (NFIs) and addressing hygiene and sanitation constraints for the affected communities